


Summons

by servantofclio



Series: Julian Shepard [7]
Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-04
Updated: 2018-02-04
Packaged: 2019-03-13 14:41:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,625
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13572708
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/servantofclio/pseuds/servantofclio
Summary: Tali gets an alarming message from the Migrant Fleet. Shepard does his best to help.





	Summons

**Author's Note:**

> This comes immediately after "Fine."

“… Shepard, wake up. Commander Shepard, wake up.”

EDI’s voice slowly impinged on Shepard’s consciousness, along with a steady beeping noise. He groaned and rolled over, swiping a hand across his face. Every thought felt slow, sludge-like. What had happened? He virtually never overslept his alarm. More often, he woke up at least twenty minutes early and just got up.

Oh. Right. He’d taken one of Dr. Chakwas’s sedatives last night, after getting back from Tuchanka.

“Commander Shepard.”

“What is it, EDI?” he grumbled, and almost instantly regretted it. EDI probably had a reason — she’d never done anything like this before. She didn’t deserve to be the target of his irritation. He just felt heavy and sluggish, his brain working slowly. He fumbled for the omni-tool he’d left by the bed and turned off the alarm.

“Tali’Zorah wishes to speak with you. She appears distressed.”

“Tali?” He sat up, scrubbing at his eyes. “Is she all right?”

“I do not know how to answer that question, Shepard. She received a communication from the Migrant Fleet, and has subsequently showed signs of emotional distress.”

“All right.” Shepard rubbed both hands over his face. Coffee. He needed coffee. The coffee machine was two decks down. If Cerberus was going to give him model cases and a fish tank, why hadn’t they put something useful like a coffee machine in his quarters?

But Tali had gotten some kind of bad news. He’d probably kept her waiting already by oversleeping. Coffee would have to wait. “She wanted to speak to me?”

“That is correct.”

“Right. Okay.” Shepard tossed the covers aside. “Send her up in five minutes.”

Five minutes was plenty of time to dunk his head under a cold shower spray, which made him feel at least moderately awake, and then throw some clothes on. When Tali knocked at Shepard’s door, he’d managed to assemble himself into something resembling an alert, professional human. He hoped, at any rate.

He propped himself up against his desk as Tali came in, wringing her hands. “Tali, hey. EDI said you wanted to talk to me?”

“Yes,” she said, her voice sounding strained. “I’m so sorry to do this, Shepard, but I have to go back to the Fleet.”

“Okay…” Shepard said slowly, fighting disappointment. She’d only gotten here a few weeks ago, and she’d planned to stay, so whatever had come up had to be important.  “What happened? Is your father all right?”

She shook her head, pacing in front of the fish tank. “It’s not about Father. Or at least, the message didn’t say anything about Father, so I don’t think… no, it’s me. I’ve… Keelah, I still can’t believe it.”

“Can’t believe what?” Shepard asked gently.

Tali stopped, winding her hands together tightly. “I’ve been charged with treason.”

_That_ woke him up. “Wait, what? That doesn’t make any sense.” No sense at all. Anyone who knew Tali knew how loyal she was to her people.

“I know!” Tali threw up her hands and started pacing again. “I can’t think of anything I might have done that would… The message doesn’t say much. It’s more of a summons, really. I have to go back to the Fleet to face trial.”

Shepard frowned as an ugly suspicion crept into his head. “This isn’t because of you serving on the _Normandy_ , is it? Because if it is…”

“No. No, it shouldn’t be that. I sent in my reports, I was granted permission to join your mission. It  can’t be that.” She stopped moving for a second and shook her head.

“Where’s the Fleet now?” Shepard asked. If Tali was going to have to deal with this, he wasn’t just going to leave her on her own.

“Out on the Far Rim. I have the coordinates, I’ll find passage out there somehow.” Her voice wavered.

“EDI, tell Joker to set a new course to the coordinates Tali will give you.” He winced, remembering they still had pressing business where they were. “As soon as we’re done here on Tuchanka, I mean.”

“Of course, Commander,” EDI said smoothly.

Tali hesitated. “Are you sure, Shepard? I don’t want to take you out of your way.”

“It’s not out of the way,” Shepard said firmly. His brain still might not be firing on all cylinders, but he could decide this much. “If it’s important to you, it’s important to me. We can take the time for this. We need time to get materials ready for the new shielding, anyway.”

Tali sighed. “Thank you. I really hate to ask you.”

“You’re not asking. I’m offering.”

She sighed again. “Then just… thank you.”

She was still wringing her hands, her shoulders hunched. Shepard didn’t need to see her face to know how worried she was. “This is really coming out of nowhere? You don’t have any idea what’s motivating this?” There had to be some kind of sense behind this.

“I can’t imagine.” She shook her head. “Unless… but no, all of that should have been secure.”

“What should have been secure?” Shepard asked warily.

“Father asked me to help out with a special research project. I’ve been sending back geth parts from the missions I’ve been on. Carefully, of course,” she said hastily, seeing his expression. “They’re all completely deactivated, packed separately. There’s no chance of them activating on their own. I’ve been so careful! I can’t… it has to be something else.”

She didn’t sound sure, even so. Shepard wasn’t so sure, either. He suggested, “Maybe something political? Somebody else found out about this project?”

Tali shook her head. “Father must have approved it with the Admiralty Board. I just don’t know.” Her voice cracked on the last syllable.

“Okay.” Shepard hoped she was right, and he didn’t want to push her when she was this upset. “How does this trial work? What are we walking into?”

“T-treason cases are usually tried _by_ the Admiralty Board.” She hunched her shoulders. “Keelah, Father’s going to have to recuse himself. This is going to be so embarrassing for him, no matter how it comes out.”

Shepard remembered the severe message that Rael’Zorah had sent him after Tali joined the _Normandy_ , implying he had too much influence over Tali and all but threatening him if any harm came to her. At the time he’d taken it with a certain amount of amusement, as the warning of a protective father. Now he felt a lot more irritated. For all his posturing, the man apparently hadn’t taken care to guard Tali at home.

Tali made a thick, wet noise, and Shepard froze, unsure what to do. He still felt like he was thinking through sludge.

“Sorry,” Tali said, and audibly sniffled.

“Hey, no.” Haltingly, Shepard took a step forward and reached out to pat her arm. “There’s no need to be sorry.”

“Oh, Shepard.” Tali stepped forward, too, leaning into the touch, and Shepard tentatively put an arm around her. “I just don’t know what to do.”

She let him gather her in willingly. Her head bumped against Shepard’s shoulder, her helmet a hard smooth weight. She seemed very small now that she was this close, slight and shaking with sobs he could barely hear.

Shepard had never been particularly good at this sort of thing, but he had to do something for her. “Hey,” he said, rubbing her back cautiously. “It’s going to be okay. We’ll go out there and sort this out. It has to be some kind of mix-up.”

Tali sniffed again. “Maybe that’s it. Maybe there was a mistake.”

“That has to be it,” Shepard said, as soothingly as he could manage. “No one could think you’d betray your people, Tali.”

She sobbed again and hugged him back. Her grip around him was tight, her slim arms startlingly strong. Her head nestled into his shoulder.

Maybe he was actually helping. Encouraged, Shepard added, “And whatever happens, you won’t have to face it alone. I don’t know if I can do anything to help, but I’ll do what I can.”

“Then I know it’ll be okay,” Tali said. She gave him another squeeze and stepped back, slowly. “Thanks, Shepard. Sorry for… um…” She gestured vaguely with her hands.

“It’s okay,” Shepard assured her. A part of him would rather keep holding her, to tell the truth. Especially since she was obviously still crying. He desperately wished he could at least give her some kind of comfort, if her whole life was coming apart like this.

“I’ll get myself together and get back to work,” Tali said, her voice still shaking.

“You can take a shift off if you need to.”

Tali shook her head. “Honesty, I’d rather be working.”

That, Shepard understood. He supposed he would have felt the same. “Okay. But don’t be hard on yourself.”

“I’ll be fine,” she said, retreating toward the door. “I’m sorry to bother you this early.”

“It’s okay,” Shepard said again. Self-consciously, he ran a hand over his damp hair, grateful it was so short it was hard to look messy. “I should be up and about by now, anyway.”

“Well… thanks, anyway.”

“You’re never a bother, Tali,” he added, a little belatedly. “It’s not a problem.”

She nodded, and hesitated, as if she wanted to say something else, and then said, “I… I’ll be going, then. I know you must have a lot of things to do.”

Breakfast and coffee, first and foremost. “We’ll take care of it, Tali,” Shepard said, hoping he sounded reassuring.

Tali nodded again and headed out the door.

Shepard blew out a breath. He didn’t like the sound of any of this, and he hated seeing Tali that upset. If someone on the Migrant Fleet had set her up, they had a lot to answer for.


End file.
